Politeness: more than just please and thank you - Mark Hancock

Politeness: more than just please and thank you - Mark Hancock

Monday, 18th April, 17.50

Mark gave a fascinating talk on politeness.  He stressed that it is a way of behaving not just a stereotype and is also culturally based.

For students learning English it is important to learn how to behave politely and to understabd that politeness is not always sincere.  Mark has some good ideas for conversation schema and also for students predicting the real thoughts behind the polite behaviour. 

His key points are:

• Politeness goes beyond cultural stereotypes
• Politeness is based on respect for 'face'
• Politeness is not always saying what you think
• Politeness is reflected in conversation schema as well as individual functional exponents
• Politeness strategies are calculated based on actual or desired distance between interlocutors
• Politeness can be negative or positive
• Inappropriate politeness strategies can give unintended impressions

I also liked Mark's polite email activity where the students look at the real thoughts beneath the polite exterior of an informal email.

For more information go to: markhancock@telefonica.net